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5 Steps to Keeping Your New Year Resolutions

Even though life today seems to be in a continual state of influx, some aspect of life remains constant. Research reveals that close to 60% of people in the world make New Year resolutions but more than half of them who do, fail to keep them longer than a few months.

The biggest fall-off seems to occur somewhere between the two and six weeks period post-January 1. The revelation shows how individuals are not committed to keeping their New Year resolutions.

It is almost the end of the year and probably many people are planning to make New Year Resolutions. The main question remains, will they commit themselves to achieve their resolutions regardless of the difficulties they will face? For example, some may want to lose weight or get in shape, quit smoking, do something more creative and many other wishes.

Here are 5 simple steps to keeping your New Year Resolutions:

♠ Discipline and self-commitment

Even though people tend to think that, those people who succeed in keeping their New Year Resolutions are self-committed, discipline remains the key pillar to keep New Year resolutions. Also, disciplined people who are better than the rest of us to keep-off negativity, turn out to be the individuals who keep their New Year resolutions.

Their desire to keep New Year Resolutions is safeguarded and propelled by their self-commitment which is brought by strong positive motivators like passion, hope, compassion, excitement, and curiosity. Recent studies on the subject matter found that compassion and gratitude are strong motivators to an individual’s change. This means that people who consistently keep their commitments get motivated by believing that eventually, they get what they hope for.

♠ Willpower and ownership

Most of the resolutions fail due to lack of clear intentions of why we are making them. Other people make resolutions because their, workmates, family members or influential individuals in life have made specific announcements. By doing this, they fail to own the resolutions because these decisions have not come from deep inside their hearts. For example, smoking is an addiction it demands personal conviction to stop the habit. Keeping New Year resolutions demands a mindset change to make sure that all your activities progress toward your goal achievement.

♠ Find benefits that resonate with you

If you make an honest review of your life, you will create New Year Resolutions which resonate with you at a core level. In addition, honesty gives you a clear picture of the things you most want to do. For instance, if you want to lose weight or eat healthier. Write down all the benefits and difficulties of eating healthy. Then be honest with yourself while making the resolution. Once you have identified the benefits which move you, make a decision to work on them every day.

♠ Focus on small, daily effort

Try not to come up with New Year Resolutions which are vague and general. Even if we have strong positive motivations, at times we lack a clear roadmap on how we will achieve the laid down resolutions. Without a clear roadmap on how you will achieve the planned resolutions, eventually, you will get lost on the way due to lack of a target. The targets can be daily, weekly, or monthly. For example, your resolution can be learning how to speak a new language fluently. What you need to do is set aside time when you will be practicing otherwise the year will end without progress.

♠ Collaboration

If it is a business New Year resolution, work with other people to make it fun and interesting. Injecting the element of healthy and friendly competition can be motivating. Doing this helps to let others know that you are committed and makes it more likely for them to follow in your footsteps. Those who are not ready to commit themselves are forced to change their behaviors to fit in otherwise they will get dismissed.

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When making New Year Resolutions always focus on the benefits you will accrue after keeping them. With such information, you will able to keep the resolutions because you already know the results.

Sticking with your New Year Resolutions may seem rough, but remember, there is more in you than you know. There is something incrediblyinspiringandmotivatingabout a fresh start.

To help you prepare yourself for your best year yet, I've created a free "New Year Resolutions Worksheet". This worksheet can help you reflect on your past goals, set up a plan with your new goals and support you to take action to actually achieving your 2010 New Year Resolutions and getting results.